Journalist Gustavo Sylvestre’s Car Vandalised

An unknown man set alight the vehicle of political journalist Gustavo Sylvestre this morning.

The incident occurred early this morning in front of the journalist’s house, in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Saavedra, when he was leaving to host his radio show.

Talking on Radio del Plata, Sylvestre said that “at 5.30am, when I was leaving for the radio like I do every day, the first I thing I noticed is that someone had broken into [the SUV] and broken the front, the dashboard, and the glove box.”

He then decided to use his wife’s car, to avoid being late for work. “I let Marcela know I’m taking her car. I leave, and since I’m very obsessive about safety I look around and when I was on my way to the radio, Marcela calls me and says the SUV was on fire. By the time I get back, the firefighters and police were already there.”

A recording by security cameras shows that a man entered the vehicle as Sylvestre went into the house to pick up the keys to his wife’s car. “We looked at the recording and at 5.34am I see that when I’m inside my house, there’s a person that walks to the right side of the car, opens the back door, gets inside, and remains in there for approximately seven minutes.” After the man leaves the vehicle, the explosion occurs. “The neighbours heard a few explosions,” said the journalist, who also confirmed that the man was alone and did not seem to have any accomplices.

Sylvestre said to be “in shock” over the incident, and even though he has not doubts that “it was intentional”, he does not have any theories as to who may be the culprit. “We’re all scared. Nothing like this ever happened to me,” he said.

Fifity-one year old Sylvestre is a recognised political journalist and history professor. He hosts a morning radio show in Radio del Plata, a night-time TV programme on cable channel C5N, and writes for economic newspaper El Cronista.